The Next Element
by PMFM
Summary: Taking place after Season Three. Aftera runin with the newly formed Hive, a new person is on the playing field who reminds them of someone lost. The thing is, they're not th only ones interested in her... AUTHORS NOTE IMPORTANTE
1. Warm Welcomes

The Next Element

My first Teen Titans fanfic, based off of a Quizilla fic written by me. There are only small hints at couples, Rb/St and BB/T. I'm not sure if this concept has ever been used before but it's been bothering me to be written for a while so... Also this happens without Birthmark, Titans East, and any really major episodes that came on In January through now. Brief Summary: It seems as if Terra was a big enough problem, being Slade's apprentice and betraying the Titans. Not long after her "death", the Hive becomes more and more active, their motives unknown. But among the new challenges the team is facing, they have a new problem to figure out. A new

Disclaimer: Teen Titans does not belong to me, it is the original creation of DC Comics and owned by Cartoon Network.

**Misty**

The bus was rolling down the streets of another city, another downtown, with metal, stone, and glass seen on both sides. Hidden from most people's view, a young girl was hunched over, fiddling with a strap on a duffel bag with boredom. She lifted her head and stared out the window. It was mid-afternoon; there were hardly any clouds in the sky. People were wearing business jackets, carrying Subway sandwiches and cell phones, and mothers were dragging toddlers around to do their errands without having to pay for baby-sitters. A perfect day. Hopefully it would stay that way. "Hopefully," she repeated out loud, leaning back into her seat and sliding down. Only a few more minutes until she arrived at the bus station. After two days of the shared by 30 people bathroom, you couldn't wait to leave that foul vehicle. Once you'd gotten off, the rest was very simple, and familiar at that. Find a cheap hotel, find someone who'll give you a job without too much background check, hideout until the social workers found you and tried to drag you to school. How many times had that happened out of all of the others? She thought for a moment, but stopped quickly. She didn't want to think about the reasons she'd had to leave.

She couldn't trust her own mind.

Gotham City was the next on a list of places she'd been before. This was her home now, though, and from what she'd seen out the window, maybe this place wouldn't bring her too much trouble.

Irony's vicious.

A collective gasp, accompanied by a few screams, was heard on the other side of the bus aisle. Passengers grabbed luggage and children and jumped in her line of vision. The bus braked suddenly, reeling to the right a little, and her forehead flew into the window. "Ow!" she yelped, grasping her left temple. She gripped her bag with her other hand and stood up. No one was in the space on the seat in front of her, so she jumped over the seat and pushed her way through the passengers to the front.

The bus driver wasn't moving, but he was staring at something in front of him. Following his train of vision, she looked down through the windshield and saw a girl with wild pink hair and a purple dress. She looked at you, smiled mischievously, and winked. That was strange enough. The next thing she knew, the grinning girl brought her hands in front of her, threw them to her sides, and purple shock waves flew through the air. They hit the buildings on either side, causing rock to crumble around the bus.

Behind her, the passengers cried out in fear. She looked at the girl in front of her, wondering if she was insane. She obviously was, because she ran off, continuing to blast other buildings. She stared after her. What gave her the right to do that? Now the rest of the street came into focus, and she saw people in wings flying overhead, big bulky men running down the street... all of them in twisted costumes. Everyone on board was beginning to panic worse than before, and it was obvious that they wanted to get out to safety. The bus driver still wasn't doing anything. "Wake up!" she yelled at him, to no avail.

"What's that?" yelled someone. Something had hit the top of the bus loudly. The entire bus grew silent, and the girl strained her hears to hear a fast paced ticking above her head.

"It's a bomb!" someone screamed, and the entire group went into pandemonium. Her breath caught in her throat, a strange feeling reaching her stomach. She looked around, not knowing what to do, when she spotted the most obvious answer: the door lever. She reached out, yanked it down, and the door opened. She turned around and yelled, "Everyone out!"

The response was shocking. An entire busload of people was rushing in her direction, and she ducked her head down as if to keep them all away. She stayed on until the bus was empty, and then, flinging her bag over her shoulder, she ran down the bus steps. The bomb ticked faster and faster until she was a few feet away, when it stopped for a dragged on second, and the bus erupted into flames. She screamed and flew herself to the ground covering her head until she was sure no debris was going to fall on her. She lifted her head and immediately breathed in a hot cloud of smoke. She turned over and looked at the fire with wide-eyed fear. She crawled backwards, away from the heat, and started to dig in her bag. T-shirt, blanket, MP3, cash, water bottle. Everything was there. She looked around at the chaos, and mentally kicked herself for thinking about the peace.

Something flew over her head and she looked up to see a small kid in a green jumpsuit flying around in a jetpack. No time to think about that. She reached in her bag and pulled out the full water bottle, untwisting the cap, and…. A huge spray of water came from behind the flames, dousing it almost completely. Somehow this surprised her, even among this scene. When they died down, possibly the strangest thing she'd seen so far come into view: a green elephant.

She looked up from the ground at a nearby man and yelled in distress, "What the _hell_ is polluting your water!"

He didn't hear her, or if he did he was to busy looking at the green elephant. "The Titans! The Titans!" he yelled, before he saw three hooded figures practically float by a few feet away. He immediately started running again.

Other people began to cheer as they ran, and right then and there the green elephant turned into an equally green teenage boy. Her mouth dropped, and cursed again. "That's insane!" Behind him came two boys, one dressed in a costume and cape, the other one with armor that looked like a robot. Above them, two girls flew. One of them was wearing a very revealing pink outfit, the other wear and equally revealing leotard type outfit, but made up for it with her long blue cape. All she could do was gape as the black-haired boy up front yelled, "Titans! Go!" and the team charged straight for the other team. At that moment it dawned on the girl. A few weeks ago she'd seen an article with a picture of these kids on it. Some terrorist named Slade had taken over this area, and apparently they'd stopped him. She didn't read it, but she'd seen the picture take up half a page on some tourist's newspaper. At least it was certain that they weren't here with the rest of this freak show.

"Titans," cried the boy in the mask, "go!" The leader through a collection of disks at the group of criminals while the robotic boy ran out yelling. The little green kid turned into a dinosaur while the two girls were blasting green and black in all sorts of directions. The other team was recognizing them with little surprise, or fear. They met in what would be a cloud of fighting frenzy if this were a cartoon.

The girl stood on the sidewalk, feeling helpless and just watching with interest at the fight. All around her people were running away. She glanced around her, coming out of a dream it seemed, and a gothic teenager hit her shoulder. "Are you stupid?" he yelled at her. "These guys don't care if they hurt anyone, and there's nothing you can do. Get out of here before this gets way too messed up." He left her and ran with the last remaining people on the street. The girl glared after him. Now it was only the super powered people.

Suddenly her shirt collar tightened around her neck. She gasped and felt her breathing constricted. Her body was lifted up, and behind her she heard a low, angry voice say, "Move." She was flung with great force into the street, but before she hit the ground on her chest, she flipped over and landed on her feet in a squat. She lost her balance and fell to her hands. "Nice," she muttered. At least she wasn't hurt by whoever did that, the jerk. Two kids just a bit older than her, one in a black costume and another resembling an eagle, stood where she had been, sneering at her. She glared, heated wit anger, and her dark eyes flashed before she gasped and sat back to calm down. They both ran into the building you'd been in front of which, she was just now figuring out, was a bank.

Above her flew the red-haired girl in the ink outfit, blasting star bolts in a direction behind her. "Robin!" she cried. "There are more of them!" Sure enough they were more, about twenty newcomers in the past five minutes.

"Stop the ones in the bank, Star!" yelled the boy in the cape, apparently Robin. "We've got our hands full." Star nodded and zoomed into the bank.

The robotic one was in the street, swinging around his arm. Thinking about it, it was more of a sonic cannon than an arm, since he was shooting at the little kid in the jetpack. "Can someone please tell me," he yelled, "why the whole freaking Hive is out here?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, you big stinking booger face," taunted the little kid. The girl raised her eyebrow at that. _Nice insult_, she thought sarcastically, but apparently it got the robot-man plenty mad. He kept shooting him, but he could never hit him. "Ha, ha, can't get me!" he yelled, throwing metallic balls at the robot. It was obvious that the Titans were seriously outnumbered, especially when two new people showed up behind the small kid and fought him as well.

Then, like a kick in the back of the head, she remembered. "How stupid!" she yelled at herself. She reached into her duffel bag and pulled out a bottle of water. Concrete roads weren't a safe place to get anything from, so this was handy. She hastily twisted the cap off again and poured the contents on the street. Then, she smirked, and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and held her hand over the puddle of water, which suddenly began to rise from the ground. The volume of the water increased and soon a decent sized wave was in front of her. She smiled, satisfied.

"Hey, brat!" she yelled. The computer geek turned around, smiling smugly. Seeing the water, his face fell. "Dodge this!" She pushed both hands forward and the water consumed all three of them.

"Ah!" he yelled. "My tech! My tech, my tech!" His jetpack went haywire and he flew around uncontrollably until he flew through a window high above.

The robot just stared at you for a moment. "How did you do that?" he asked awestruck.

"Don't know, don't care," she said confidently. "It looked like your butt needed saving, though, so I helped."

"Keep helping," he said, and ran back into the center of the fight.

Keep helping? No problem. Just a small battle between two very organized armies. Well, she thought, I guess I could help. Just kiss Gotham good-bye.

She followed him into the heat of the battle, and saw the girl in the blue cape facing off a tall, lean blue man (like green people weren't enough). She ran over there as her hands and eyes glowed a black that still gave off light and a streetlight nearby was wrenched from its post. For a minute she gazed in surprise at her telekinesis, and then shook it off. "Do you need any help?" she yelled over the noise.

"No!" she cried, not even looking at her. "I've got this. Go somewhere safe!" With that, the streetlight came from behind him and knocked him to the ground. It curved up and almost melded to the ground. The man somehow expanded, trying to break it, but whilst it glowed black it didn't budge. She rolled your eyes, but it was obvious the girl had it like she said. Before she could even finish that thought, the caped girl was thrown through the air into a building.

She snapped her head around to where the attack had come from, and the pink-haired girl was standing there. She was laughing, eyes closed, hands on her hips. She opened her eyes and looked at the girl. She grinned at her and lifted her hands and purple lasers flew in her direction. Fear was sent through every inch of the girl, who ducked and lifted the water up to protect her. The lasers hit the water and disappeared. The girl opened her eyes and looked at the water in front of her curiously. That was new.

In front of her the pink-haired girl gazed at her with interest. However, she held her hands out, fingers stretched, and sent the water towards her. It stopped her purple lasers. The pink-haired girl gasped and simply jumped up, higher than a normal person could, and landed with ease, almost catlike. Just then three small explosions erupted around her, and Robin jumped in between the two girls. He ran towards her, but then Starfire flew over them.

"Robin," she said. "The two thieves are gone, I don't know where they went!"

"You hear that!" said the pink-haired girl. "Move out!" Most of the young criminals began to run or fly away, but Pinky just looked at the girl and smiled darkly. Then, she, too, began to run down the street.

"No!" cried the girl. They shouldn't get away! The Titans were busy keeping the ones they'd already captured underhand. She turned toward the fleeing bandits and raised her arms high. The air around her started to move and her hair fell in her face, covering her eyes. She knew they were glowing, though. They always did when she worked this hard. The water began to rise higher and higher. No! What was she doing? Trying to capture them, like the others weren't, of course! But she had to –

Someone grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. Her hands flew in reaction and the water that she'd piled up spilled everywhere. Robin was in front of her, or at least that's what she could see through her hair. "That's enough! Stop," he said.

She stared at him for a moment, and then turned around. They were gone! "They got away!" she cried.

"We know that," he said. "We have ways of finding them, though. Besides, we've got enough for the police." He pointed toward four cop cars and a SWAT van, loading up the costumed bad kids. Oh, do now they arrive.

"Oh," she said. It was then that she began to feel woozy. She'd taken a lot out making the tidal wave. "Fine." She ran over to where she'd dropped her duffel bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"Who are you?" asked the robot one.

She smiled sheepishly and stuffed her hands in her jean pockets. "I guess we haven't done an intro yet," she said. "My name's Misty. I know you're the Teen Titans, but what are your names again?"

Robin smiled a little. "This here is Raven," she pointed to the caped girl, "Cyborg," the robot, "Beast Boy," the green kid, "Starfire," the redhead, "and I'm Robin."

"Yes! I am Starfire," cried Starfire, who flew over to Misty and hugged her tightly. "Please, tell me! Where are you from, how did you get here, what is your favorite color, do you wish to be my friend?"

The air was slowly seeping out of her lungs from Starfire's awesome strength. "New York, bus, turquoise, and yeah whatever!" She jumped back and caught her breath. "Nice to meet you, too," she said. Her black hair was still in her face, so she moved one half to the side and smiled, feeling like an exhibit of the staring Titans.

They stared more, with open mouths.

_Oh, no, what'd I do now?_ "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Terra!" Beast Boy cried.

A/N: Well, hope you all like it! BWE-heeheehee, I love cliff hangars. Especially when they're mine. So, anyways, review please! I'll respond in the next chapter.

-Phebga: Madame Fortress Mommy


	2. Titans Tower

The Next Element

Sorry for the wait, guys. It's here now though. By the way, I saw TE One, never saw TE 2. Could someone fill me in, please?

**Titans Tower**

"Terra," said Beast Boy, bewildered. He was looking at her like he'd seen a ghost; a familiar one that was haunting him.

Misty looked from him, to Robin, to Raven, and each one of them, and then back again. She felt like a movie and a windmill at the same time. "Uh… no," she said slowly, smiling. "Misty. My name is Misty, remember?" People kept looking at you. "Okay, why is everyone looking at me?"

Raven walked up, the first to stop staring and the person with the least expression otherwise. "You look like someone we used to know," she explained, taking her hood off, revealing her purple hair. "Her name was Terra, and you two could be twins. Except for the hair; she was a blond."

She stopped talking and the silence prolonged. By the time anyone else made a sign of mobility, the police had left with the prisoners they'd captured, including the little green kid.

"Conference!" cried Cyborg and almost instantaneously everyone huddled like a college football team. They were whispering, and they all kept stealing glances at her. If it was supposed to be secretive, they obviously weren't doing a very good job of keeping it that way.

Misty remained, several feet away, looking around uncomfortably. "Ooookay," she said, rubbing her arm. "It's been a fun day! My bus exploded, chasing away freaky criminals, and meeting famous superheroes. This is better than any tour." She smiled and gave a thumbs-up. "I really ought to start looking for a place to crash, though. Bye!"

Before she could walk five steps, Robin called from behind her. "Misty, wait," he said. Misty grimaced and then turned around with a faked look of interest. Robin faced her, the rest behind him and Starfire clinging to his sleeve. He looked really annoyed at it but let it pass. "If you don't have anywhere to stay, you could always stay with us at the tower."

"Uh, thanks, but no," she said, walking backwards. "I'm good."

"No you are not!" Starfire cried. She released Robin and flew toward Misty, floating in front of her face and inching nearer with every word. "I can not permit my friend to find a smelly old hotel in an alley and stay there all alone with bricks in the windows!"

Misty bent backwards, about to loose her balance, because Starfire was so close. "I was thinking a place where they leave mints on your pillows," she said.

Cyborg walked up behind her and flashed a please-be-convinced smile. "Aw, c'mon," he said. "Titans Tower is better than any old hotel!" Misty looked around at the three of them, feeling pressured. Then again, maybe just for a night…

They all looked at her expectantly. She didn't have a lot of money now, and she did have a few things in common with them, i.e. superpowers. "Well," she said slowly, "I guess I could stay."

Starfire and Cyborg cheered, while Starfire grappled Misty's neck. She wondered if the crazed girl had ever killed anyone before. The two of them started to lead her to a little blue car. She twisted your neck back to see Robin, Raven, and Beast Boy. Robin and Raven were standing next to each other, looks of doubt on their serious faces. They exchanged glances, and then followed the three of them. Beast Boy lagged behind, but Misty didn't have time to contemplate his expression, for they'd reached the car. After inspecting it quickly, it was obvious who had built it, painted it, or whatever the design was. It matched the robotic parts of Cyborg.

It was then that Misty detected a problem. She lifted her finger and counted silently. "There are only five seats," she pointed out, "and six people."

"We know," said Robin. Misty detected an overly friendly tone in his voice. "Starfire, Beast Boy, or Raven will just have to fly to the tower. Which one of you will…"

Before anyone could say anything more, Beast Boy transformed quickly into a raptor and flew away into the evening sky. Misty looked up as he rose higher and flew further away. _Strange_, she thought. She turned to Cyborg and asked, "Is he always like that?"

Raven answered before he could. "Unfortunately, no," she said. She and Starfire climbed into the backseat, and Robin and Cyborg in the front. Raven slid off her hood and crossed her arms in a brooding way, staring out the window. It seemed like she was deliberately avoiding Misty's eye contact.

Cyborg turned around to face her and he grinned excitedly. "Watch what this baby can do!" he cried

"Cyborg, not now, it's crowded on the streets at this hour," said Robin. Cyborg's face fell, but her turned around and revved the engine.

A thought crossed Misty's mind, and she twisted around in her seat to look out the back window. "Uh, shouldn't we clean up the mess back there?" she asked. There was broken glass, car debris, and the streetlight Raven had used as a battering ram.

"The authorities and sanitation crew usually do that," Robin said, and the car sped off.

Misty glanced out of her window, watching the buildings zip by, not really registering them as she sank deeply into thought. This was almost immediately interrupted by Starfire tapping on her shoulder. She turned around and through her dark hair she saw an inquisitive alien expression. "Yeah?" she asked.

"Would you like to see our home?" she asked, pointing through Raven's side of the window. From there, she could see a tan colored beach, the sun growing ever-closer to the horizon. Off to the right, there was a very distinctly shaped letter T jutting out from an island about a mile or two away from the mainland.

Misty was instantly curious, twisting around and pulling her hair back to get a closer look. "Cool," she whispered. "That's possibly the best real estate I've ever seen, even on TV." She looked back at Starfire, who she had been leaning over to look through the window better. "That's Titans Tower, I suppose?" Starfire smiled as an answer. "Well, you guys have a nice place to crash," she commented, leaning back. She'd always wanted to live on an island, and that would be the perfect place for her. No, she couldn't start thinking like that. "Just give me some time to find a permanent place and I'll be right out of there."

"No!" Starfire cried defiantly. "I have already said that you must not live in a lonely place and that is final!"

"Look, guys," she said, trying to explain, "I appreciate you just taking me in without even really knowing me, but I don't have to stay. I don't want to make an impression or be a burden."

"Oh, you will not be a burden at all!" Starfire replied. She put a finger to her chin thoughtfully and then gasped happily. "Maybe you can even become a Teen Titan!"

Raven moaned and leaned her head against the window. "Just like last time," she muttered. Misty looked sideways at her, wondering what she had meant.

"Raven!" Cyborg snapped, almost inaudibly. I was obvious that Misty was not meant to know what Raven was talking about. She looked into her lap and thought, but nothing jumped out at her. Why would it? She'd only just met these people. Yet she felt so welcome. Pfft. Right.

Robin turned in his seat and gave Starfire a meaningful look. "Uh, Star? It'll take a while until we can decide on that."

The happy expression on her face immediately transformed to one of realization, then of sadness. She lowered her head and said, downtrodden, "Yes. Of course."

Misty was confused even more. She looked at each person in turn and then said, "Okay. I missed something, didn't I?"

"We'll tell you later," Robin said, as if the conversation were over. As far as Misty was concerned it wasn't. She opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out. Maybe she shouldn't quarrel with the people who were taking her in. Of course, they knew not what they were dealing with. How could they? Would they have to? Now Misty's head hurt, thinking about it all. She had to put it in the back of her mind before she got too upset.

Cyborg pulled out onto the boardwalk, driving ever closer to the tower. The silence in the car was infuriatingly boring. So, she began thinking up excuses to leave the next day. Where could she go now when she'd already made a disturbance in the town? She just had to help, she just had to show her powers, she just had to join up with the local superheroes and now anywhere she went people would know her. Sure, she'd gone underground before, in hideouts and quarters where too many black market deals and the like had happened, but she didn't want to do that again. A girl just couldn't live decently where if anyone thought you were listening they'd shoot you. Perhaps… maybe she could stay? Starfire had said that she could be a Teen Titan. She could finally have a reason to use her powers to help. Maybe they'd help, or at least accept her. That was something no one else had ever done before, at least not for long. But she wouldn't allow herself to get her hopes to far up. What if she ended up doing more harm than help?

The car crossed over into the beach and drove across the sand until Titans Tower was directly in front of them. The car stopped and faced the ocean. The very small, very sinkable car facing a vast ocean. Cyborg grinned and turned to face Misty. "Check this out," he said proudly, pressing a green button on the dashboard. At first, nothing happened, and the idea that every one of these people was just a tad insane surfaced in her mind. But then she caught a disturbance in the water, which turned into waves, which resulted in some kind of long, metallic platform reaching all the way from the beach to the island. It was just wade enough for a car to drive across.

Misty released a small smile and nodded. "Wow," she said. The car moved on to the bridge and began to drive toward the island, the ocean splashing against the sides. Misty looked out the window excitedly, loving the view. It was almost as if she wasn't on a road, but actually moving on top of the water. What the Titans were able to do was amazing.

Finally the car drove onto the island, and the bridge sunk below the sea. They drove on for a few more moments before driving into a garage… a really, really big garage. "Cyborg likes toys, I presume," she said.

"Booya," said Cyborg, stopping the car. Everyone piled out, the last out being Misty. She almost didn't want to set foot inside. That'd almost be like sealing her fate. She was about to ask to be driven back to the crime scene, but took a deep breath and walked out, her duffel bag slung over her shoulder.

"Let's get inside, make her comfortable, and then get to work," said Robin. He looked at Misty and added, "We have some things to be done. Sorry we can't be more hospitable, but something serious has happened."

The group reached an elevator and entered, and Robin pushed a button for the top floor. "You mean the attack and burglary," she said. "Anything I can maybe help with?"

"Not unless you know anything at all about Hive Academy," he replied.

Misty gripped her bag. "What exactly is this Hive that you're talking about?"

"Basically," said Cyborg, "it's a school for teenagers with superpowers like us, only their headmaster has them all brainwashed and they're criminals."

Misty nodded. "School of super villains. Sounds like a comic book."

"Tell me about it," he said. "I've had plenty of run-ins with those guys."

She looked up quickly at Cyborg, then away. It was apparent to her that Cyborg was possibly the friendliest of them all to her. Beast Boy flew away, Raven seemed to have an unjustified grudge against her, and Robin had this great aura of tension around him. Starfire had squeezed her so tightly she about fainted, which was seemingly too friendly for her tastes. She was already feeling attached to him, like a friend or something. That wasn't exactly safe.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. There was a small hallway, then another door. Robin led them all to it, and the door slid open. If Misty's jaw was long enough, it would have hit the floor. Instead, she whistled. "You guys. Have. Cash." She immediately ran over to the large window, plastering her hands to it. The view of the ocean and part of Gotham Harbor was incredible.

Somewhere from behind her, someone said, "Hey, guys. What took you so long? I guess Misty likes it here."

Misty whipped her head around and was surprised to see Beast boy. He looked to be in a much better mood. He jumped over the couch and walked to stand next to her. "Big window, huh? It's also the TV." He lifted a remote and pressed the ON button, and the middle portion of the window lit up to show a cooking show.

"Yeah," said Misty, grinning despite herself. "It's awesome here."

"The couch is comfy, too," he said, walking next to it. "I'm not allowed on it, though. Cy's rules. You know, dog fur and everything." He morphed into a green dog quickly, and then morphed back.

Misty chuckled. "Cool." She stopped laughing suddenly as Beast Boy' mood changed. He just stood there, staring at her face intently. Misty's hair fell over her face as she frowned, covering half of it. She grimaced and coughed, and Beast Boy looked away.

"Ooookay," said Cyborg. "Who wants pizza?"

"Sorry, Cy," said Robin, "but we have things to do, remember?" Her looked at Misty and said, "Like I said, we wish we could be good hosts right now, but we have to see if this is a normal Hive thing or something bigger."

_Maybe it'd be easier if they hadn't gotten away_, she started to think, but shunted that out.

"Oh, Robin, can it not wait for three frenicks?" she begged, clapping her hands together.

"Yeah, she needs the grand tour!" Cyborg cried, slapping his metal hand on her shoulder and pushing her toward the door. She ducked and moved back.

"No, no, it's okay," she said. "I don't need a tour, but you guys have to work on, well, whatever it is you do. Besides it's just tonight, I don't need-"

"What?" asked Beast Boy, only just now hearing this. "Only one night?"

"Misty, please stay for more than one night!" Starfire said, flying over to her. "Please, please, please, with the crystallized sugar and sweet white cream on top of it!"

You backed away slowly, looking over to Robin and Raven almost pleading for advice. Raven sighed. "You might as well stay for a couple of days. It's not a huge problem with me if you do." A moment of silence passed as that sunk in, everyone but Misty looking surprised.

"See, even Raven thinks you should stay!" Beast Boy said. "And in case you didn't know, that's a good thing."

Misty sighed and held out her hand. "Lead the way."

Twenty minutes later, Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast boy had led Misty back to the living room, after showing her where everyone's rooms were, the bathrooms and exercise rooms, obstacle courses, and everything else imperative to know. She went to the couch and sat down, mentally exhausted from all of the information that had been crammed into her brain. Perhaps a quick shut-eye would do her some good. She leaned her head against the couch arm and was ready to go to sleep when she heard hushed voices, her name among them. She opened one eye slightly, and spotted their blurry, upside down forms.

"Misty could… just like… what if she…. work… like last time?" asked Raven. It was hard to catch and decipher all of the muttered words.

"Aw, c'mon," moaned Beast Boy. "… Make sure… Terra… she isn't going…"

"Beast… we have… make sure," said Robin softly. "… Makes sense… too coincidental."

"We could… questions… looks exactly like her," Cyborg said.

"Can't believe… stupid… treat her like… enemy!"

"Please, Beast Boy, let's… be certain," said Starfire.

"… get it… with. We have to be…" said Raven.

Misty frowned and stared at the floor, her eyes visibly open now. Why were they whispering about her? Why did they absolutely insist on her being welcome here and then gossip about her. Half the time it was like she could almost get used to it here, but then they all did something like this and make her feel like an outsider again. Wait. Did they know? Could they know? She wasn't listening anymore, but thinking, her eyes closed again. Who was this Terra she looked so much like, and why was it that whenever they whispered about her the name Terra had come up at some point?

Someone tapped her shoulder and she opened her eyes, staring up at Robin's face. "We need to ask you some questions," he said seriously. His tone caused dread to leak into your veins like ice.

She sat up and turned around, looking at him nervously. "What kind of questions?"

AN: Booya! Another cliffhanger, I think. And before you say anything, I don't think any Cyborg/Misty pairings are applicable. Hey, I haven't advanced this very intricately, I could decide to put it in, but I'm thinking not. Any other questions, comments, or critiques, please tell me via review. Thanks bunches!

Phebga Madam Fortress Mommy (The Resident Lunatic Asylum Outpatient)


	3. AN Temporary Deletion

**The Next Element**

AUTHOR'S NOTE

* * *

PLEASE DON'T ALERT ME... PLEASE!

Even though it won't really matter that much...

I know I've been inactive here for... well, forever, really. But I'm getting help. Briana (BLFBH, or her new account, Saramis Kismet) is going to help me. This goes for most of my stories... well, since she helps me on just about all of these, and she's gotten pretty good at her new stuff, we decided to move most of my stories, including this one, to her account and pretty much partnering there for a while. This story's going to become a joint project for us. If anyone actually read my Hey Arnold fics (pscha... like any of ya'll did) then I'll be moving Query too, if she lets me. I hope she does. If You Feel Like Letting Go, I totally lost where I was going with that which sucks because I thought it was pretty good.

Turns out I had two favorites on this story... sorry you guys. I'm a bad girl, I am. I shall giveth all my past readers pixie stix for that.

This is an alert; this copy of the story will be shut down soon after this note goes up. So if you want to alert me, don't, because I'll be deleting it anyway as soon as I can. But it's late, and I'm awfully tired, so maybe by a few days...

If you're just now reading this and you're mad at me because you think this is good (somehow) and want to continue, you'll be able to. At the account I mentioned before.

Peace and noodles to you all,

Andrea, aka Phebga


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